Great News for Online Lead Generation: Fewer Emails are Getting Junked

Big data marketers know that there's a fine line between an email campaign being opened versus one that's instantly ignored and jettisoned to the junk folder. Unfortunately, this grey area can lead to email marketing getting somewhat of a bad rap. After all, does it really make any sense to put in all that effort if prospects are just going to tune out? Well, that's becoming less of a concern because fewer emails are getting junked, but why exactly?

Lead generation companies have long touted several strategies to help protect against an email campaign being ignored or filtered as spam. For instance, the email's title has to grab one's attention. Then there's the font, the positioning of the links, and what words get linked. Then, there's the placement of photos and banners and testing the email itself on multiple servers and addresses. Finally, there's the importance of using whitespace. However, it was never enough.

As important as each of these aforementioned variables are, they pale in comparison to accuracy. Yes, accuracy is why fewer emails are getting junked and big data marketing is the reason why. Here are some things to consider.

Big Data Marketing and Improved Accuracy

So, how does big data marketing improve the accuracy of email marketing campaigns? Well, it does away with this antiquated and outdated view that email lead generation is nothing more than a numbers game. It has forever put an end to the argument that the more emails you send, the greater your chances of generating leads. Instead, big data marketing professionals are relying upon accuracy and what makes it possible is how relevant and applicable the customer data is.

• Stronger Segmentation: Today's marketing teams have better data gathering techniques. The days of gathering email addresses at trade shows and thinking that's enough to make an email campaign work are long gone. Big data marketers know that they have to continually fill their data funnel with accurate, timely and relevant customer data. Customer segmentation is key and must be the guiding force for all campaigns.

Customer segmentation is a continuous analytical process.

• Lead Capture Forms Capture Better Data: Companies have eschewed the long, drawn-out and time-consuming online questionnaire and information forms for a more concise, simpler and shorter lead capture page system. Yes, there's less to fill out, and no, that doesn't mean that the customer data is less accurate. Today's lead capture forms are linked to other internal forms, the company's CRM, its marketing automation platform, and the landing page itself. There's more than enough data there to fill in the information without having to ask the customer to do it.

• Better Understanding of Buyer Personas: A forward-looking firm is one that is always trying to improve its understanding of its target audience. Big data marketers are now focused on providing a complete picture of their customers. Segmentation isn't just about where the customer comes from, what their business involves and how much they buy. No, it's now about providing a thorough and complete buyer persona and then using that data to improve both the quality and timing of email campaigns and the offers within those campaigns.

Big data marketing is improving email lead generation techniques by making those email campaigns more relevant and applicable to a company's customers. This improves the type of offers made, when they're made and how they're made. So, while all those aforementioned criteria of links, font, title and whitespace, are important, it's ultimately the quality of the customer data itself that makes the biggest difference.

ReachForce helps marketers increase revenue contribution by solving some of their toughest data management problems. We understand the challenges of results-driven marketers and provide solutions to make initiatives like marketing automation, personalization and predictive marketing better. Whether you have an acute pain to solve today or prefer to grow your capabilities over time, ReachForce can unify, clean and enrich prospect and customer lifecycle data in your business, and do it at your own pace.

To learn more about how ReachForce can help you optimize demand generation and your impact on revenue, get a free data assessment and get a demo today.